Understanding Skrill’s Additional Support Programme
The world of online payments and transactions has revolutionized the way we conduct our personal and professional lives. However, online payment systems can also be intimidating and impersonal, especially if you’re unfamiliar with them or require additional support. Skrill understands that online payments can be particularly challenging for vulnerable customers, and therefore has developed an additional support programme to ensure that everyone can access online transactions with confidence. In this blog post, let’s take a closer look at Skrill’s additional support programme and how it can benefit vulnerable customers.
Additional Support Programme
We’re committed to understanding and supporting all our customers, which is why we have introduced our Additional support programme, in compliance with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) guidelines.
According to the FCA, vulnerable customers are those who face circumstances that put them at risk if a company doesn’t provide them with the support they need. Many situations may cause a person to identify as vulnerable, but the four main categories include health reasons (mental/physical disability, injury, illness), life events (bereavement, abuse, caring responsibilities), resilience (low or unstable income, debt, unemployment), and capabilities (learning difficulties, low financial knowledge).
Identifying your needs
We let our customers have their say – we’ve sent out a survey to see if our customers are placed in special circumstances and need our additional support.
We also use secure machine learning to flag any potential activities that might correspond with vulnerable situations.
To help our customers avoid any harm when using our products, we regularly evaluate and address the potential risks and impacts of our services whenever we create, update, and distribute our products.
You can opt into our Additional support programme at any time by logging into your account via web and visiting section Settings > Personal details > Additional support programme > Edit; then select all options that apply to your circumstances
Below you will find the most common circumstances and how our Additional support programme addresses them.
Fraud and scam
Helping you protect yourself against fraud and financial crime is extremely important to us.
Fraudsters use various tricks to access your information, such as phishing emails, fake social media ads and online impersonation, to name just a few. Discover how to spot suspicious activity related to your Skrill account, and what to do to keep your money and identity safe online.
Gambling block
Gambling could become a problem if you lose the ability to stop. This is why we have introduced our gambling block feature, which allows you to stop any payments to gambling merchants. Check out our related article to find out more.
Managing a deceased person’s account
We know losing a loved one is hard, so we aim to make the process as straightforward as possible.
When you’re ready, get in touch with our Customer Support who will talk you through closing the account and where you can find additional support. Please also check out the relevant related article below for more details.
How we handle your data
The personal information you share helps us provide you with the best possible service and support.
Any information you give us is kept confidential and protected. We won’t share your data with any third parties unless required to do so by law, or in exceptional circumstances to protect your personal interests.
We’ll keep your information for a period in accordance with our retention policies, so we can prove the support we’ve provided to you if the need arises.
See our Privacy Notice for more information on how we process your personal data.
Which organisations support customers at risk?
We have trained members of our Customer Support to help customers at risk by treating them equally and with care. However, some of your needs may require specialist support from third-party organisations. This is why we’ve put together a list of contact details for numerous organisations that you may find helpful. Please note that these details are relevant to the United Kingdom and Ireland only. If you’re located elsewhere, check with your local organisations to find out which ones suit your needs best.
Please note that these details are relevant to the United Kingdom and Ireland only. If you’re located elsewhere, check with your local organisations to find out which ones suit your needs best.
| Description | Contact Details | |
|
Mental Health conditions, including depression and anxiety |
Mind provides advice and support to anyone experiencing mental health problems. |
Website: mind.org.uk Email: info@mind.org.uk |
|
Samaritans provides 24/7 support for anyone who’s struggling to cope. |
Website: samaritans.org Email: jo@samaritans.org Self-help app: selfhelp.samaritans.org |
|
|
Sane provides emotional support and information to anyone affected by mental illness. |
Website: sane.org.uk |
|
| The NHS has many resources outlining the symptoms and feelings common with mental health problems. |
Website: nhs.uk/mental-health/feelings-symptoms-behaviours/feelings-and-symptoms |
|
|
Mental Health Ireland is the longest-established mental health charity in Ireland supporting individuals with mental health challenges. |
Website: mentalhealthireland.ie Email: info@mentalhealthireland.ie |
|
| Serious long-term illnesses and physical disabilities | Macmillan is a cancer support organisation offering a range of services and advice. |
Website: macmillan.org.uk |
| The People Hub is a charity working to empower people with long-term health conditions and disabilities through knowledge sharing. |
Website: peoplehub.org.uk Email: hello@peoplehub.org.uk |
|
| Scope provides information and emotional support to disabled people. |
Website: scope.org.uk Email: helpline@scope.org.uk |
|
| Hearing impairment | Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID) provides information and support for deaf people and those with hearing loss or tinnitus. |
Website: rnid.org.uk Email: contact@rnid.org.uk Webform, Webchat, and Video call using BSL available |
| Irish Deaf Society seeks to promote the equality and rights of deaf people in Ireland. | Website: irishdeafsociety.ie | |
| The National Charity for Deafness and Hearing Loss supports individuals across Ireland through their care, technology, advice and information services. |
Website: chime.ie Email: info@chime.ie |
|
| Visual impairment | Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) is one of the UK’s leading sight loss charities offering help and support to blind and partially sighted people. | Website: rnib.org.uk |
| NCBI provides support to blind or vision-impaired people throughout Ireland offering information, relevant technology and innovative programmes to assist individuals in education, the workplace and wider society. |
Website: ncbi.ie Webform available |
|
| Social isolation | WaveLength gifts lonely individuals living in poverty with media technology including radios, televisions, and tablet computers. |
Website: wavelength.org.uk Email: info@wavelength.org.uk |
| British Red Cross provides local support services, workshops and resources to help people understand and overcome living with loneliness. | ||
| The Silver Line operates a confidential, free helpline for older people across the UK to offer friendship, conversation and support 24/7/365. |
Website: thesilverline.org.uk |
|
| Age related support | Age UK’s Advice Line provides older individuals with advice and support across money and legal, care and support, health and wellbeing, and work and learning. They also offer weekly friendship calls to help beat loneliness. |
Website: ageuk.org.uk Webform and Webchat available |
| Age Action Ireland provides practical programmes to support older people to live full, independent lives through their Care and Repair, Information Service and Computer Training initiatives. |
Website: ageaction.ie Email: info@ageaction.ie |
|
| Debt and Managing Finances | Money Helper provides free government-backed advice on money and pension choices. They also have a helpful online budget planner. |
Website: moneyhelper.org.uk Webchat available |
| National Debtline gives free and independent debt advice over the phone and online. They also provide an easy-to-use budget planner. |
Website: nationaldebtline.org Webchat available |
|
| Step Change Debt Charity provides free, confidential advice and practical solutions to help people deal with financial debts. Their 60-second debt test indicates if help is needed. |
Website: stepchange.org.uk |
|
| Payplan offers free debt advice, providing solutions for people with multiple debts. |
Website: payplan.com |
|
| Domestic Violence or Abuse, including financial abuse | The National Centre for Domestic Violence (NCDV) provides a free and fast emergency injunction service to survivors of domestic violence regardless of their financial circumstances, race, gender, or sexual orientation. |
Website: ncdv.org.uk Email: office@ncdv.org.uk |
| Refuge offers support to women and children experiencing domestic violence. |
Website: refuge.org.uk |
|
| Homelessness / Home at risk | Shelter offers housing advice, support and legal services to anyone living in poor housing or at risk of eviction, repossession or homelessness in the UK. |
Website: shelter.org.uk |
| Gambling | GamCare is a national provider of free information, advice and support for anyone affected by gambling. |
Website: gamcare.org.uk Webchat available |
| Alcohol | Beating Addictions provides information about a range of addictive behaviors and treatments. | Website: beatingaddictions.co.uk |
| Alcoholics Anonymous provides a helpline and meetings to support anyone with alcohol problems. |
Website: alcoholics-anonymous.org.uk Webchat available Email: help@aamail.org |
|
| Drugs | FRANK offers confidential advice and information about drugs, their effects and the law. |
Website: talktofrank.com |
| Narcotics Anonymous offers support to anyone who wants to stop using drugs. |
Website: ukna.org |
|
| Bereavement | Cruse Bereavement Care provides free care and bereavement counseling to people going through grief. |
Website: cruse.org.uk |
| Caring responsibilities | Carers UK provides advice and information for carers across a range of issues including benefits, residential care, the Carer’s Act and respite care. |
Website: carersuk.org |
| The Office of the Public Guardian protects people in England and Wales who may not have the mental capacity to make certain decisions for themselves, such as about their health and finances. They provide information on how to make, register and end a lasting power of attorney. | ||
| Asylum Seekers and Refugees | The British Red Cross supports refugees, asylum seekers and vulnerable migrants. | |
| Learning disabilities | Mencap provides support to individuals with learning disabilities in any area of their life where they need support. |
Website: mencap.org.uk |
| Mind provides support and advice for individuals with learning disabilities. |
Website: mind.org.uk Email: info@mind.org.uk |
|
| Turning Point provides support for individuals with learning disabilities. |
Website: turning-point.co.uk Webform available |
|
| Inclusion Ireland - The National Association for People with an Intellectual Disability supports individuals with an intellectual disability in Ireland. |
Website: inclusionireland.ie Email: info@inclusionireland.ie |
|
| Dyslexia | British Dyslexia Association operates a helpline 3 days a week to offer advice and support to individuals with dyslexia. |
Website: bdadyslexia.org.uk |
| Dyslexia Association of Ireland works with and for people affected by dyslexia, by providing information and support services, engaging in advocacy and raising awareness. |
Website: dyslexia.ie Email: info@dyslexia.ie |
|
| Autism | National Autistic Society provides support, guidance and advice to individuals on the autism spectrum and their families. |
Website: autism.org.uk |
| Irish Society for Autism supports individuals with autism, raises awareness and promotes education. |
Website: autism.ie Email: admin@autism.ie Webform available |
|
| Digital skills | Good Things Foundation gives people in need digital devices to improve access to jobs and education, improve quality of life and decrease social isolation. |
Website: goodthingsfoundation.org |
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